EARL OF STAMFORD 267 



Day, hounds found a fox at Billesdon Coplow and ran 

 him with scarcely a check almost to Shangton Holt, 

 when Treadwell hit off the line again and the pack 

 pulled down their fox near Kibworth, after a run of two 

 hours and twenty minutes. 



It was in the year i860 that the Bradgate Park testi- 

 monial was proposed and carried out. As the inscription 

 explained, it was " presented to the Earl and Countess 

 of Stamford and Warrington by the inhabitants of 

 Leicester." The gift took the form of a silver rosewater 

 dish of elaborate design — so elaborate, indeed, that an 

 official description is perhaps worth reproducing. 



The body of the dish or salver is divided into four compart- 

 ments or panels, which are tastefully separated one from the 

 other by groups of dead fish and game, and by cricketing and 

 sporting trophies. These are cleverly looped to foxes' heads by 

 graceful festoons of fruits and flowers. The first compartment or 

 panel is allegorical, or Britannia offering the benefit of commerce 

 to the four quarters of the globe. In the background is a correct 

 view of Leicester Corn Exchange, smoking factories, &c, thereby 

 identifying the various trades of the town with the testimonial. 

 The second compartment represents a picture of the far-famed old 

 oak-tree in Bradgate Park, under the delightful shade of which is 

 seen a happy picnic party, the ruins of the old castle forming a 

 picturesque background. The third panel suggests hunting, a 

 sport famous to the county. The Quorn foxhounds are in full 

 cry ; the earl and countess, enjoying the invigorating pastime, 

 are riding side by side. The fourth and remaining compartment 

 is a faithful representation of Bradgate House. The whole is 

 surrounded by a very rich and beautiful border in which is 

 represented a fox-hunt — the horsemen, hounds, fox, &c, being 

 exquisitely chiselled ; while to prevent the eye from tiring and to 

 relieve the composition, it is divided by shields upon which are 

 prominently chased the arms of the town of Leicester and the 

 crest and coronet of the Earl and Countess. 



The designer of this dish certainly deserves all credit 

 for his ingenuity, for a more inclusive specimen of the 

 silversmith's craft can hardly be imagined. 



